


United Nations Shipgirl Command

by The_Pyro_Jawsome



Category: Halo, 艦隊これくしょん | Kantai Collection
Genre: A list longer than The List, Alcohol, Gen, Humor, Insanity, Loads and Loads of Ships, References to headcanon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-09-18 01:18:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16985391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Pyro_Jawsome/pseuds/The_Pyro_Jawsome
Summary: The war with the Covenant is over, but a new alien race is threatening Humanity. Follow the exploits, trials, tribulations, and slipping sanity of Admiral Aqua Steele as she fights threats from within and without with humanity's newest weapons... shipgirls. Rated M for language, implications, and shipgirls. Mirrored on FF.net.





	1. Admiral's Log: Days 1-2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Admiral Steele arrives at her new assignment, gets her first shipgirls, and has a minor breakdown to get it out of the way first.
> 
> The Covenant seem like a nice memory now.

Ever since humanity achieved space travel have we wondered what lay beyond our star system. The Voyager probe, theories of other intelligence. Even as we mastered other planets in the Sol system like we had Earth, the question lingered. When we achieved slipspace travel in 2291, from studying an ancient artifact on Pluto, the universe opened up to us, with the establishment of Earth's first interstellar colonies. Reach, Alpha Centauri, Harvest. Mass effect relays allowed constant communication required for us to accomplish such a feat, unheard of since the British Empire in the 17th and 18th centuries. We believed that we could go ever onward, to see the ends of the universe.

Then came the Covenant.

An alliance of aliens, with two races specifically at it's head. We first encountered them at Harvest, where a ship appeared to investigate lost communications to find a ball of glass where a planet had been. The atmosphere had been burned away, the water, boiled to plasma. Everyone planetside died.

A message remained. " _Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instrument._ "

Then they came more overtly. Orphan II, the UNSC saw them face to face for the first time. The small Grunts. The sniper Jackals. The terrifying Hunters. The monstrous Brutes. And the leaders of the forces, the Elites. Each had their own classes, with Elite classes showing up meaning the Covenant weren't too far behind. Once a Zealot-class was spotted, the planet was doomed.

Humanity was pushed back, every victory only a barely organized retreat, every defeat devastating. We lost every colony, while adhering to the Cole protocol: jump randomly, then to Reach, or Earth. The Covenant must never discover them.

Then they came for Reach. The Assault on the Spire. The supercarrier. The fleet arriving. The glassing of New Alexandria. The destruction of [REDACTED]. Now, Earth was the inevitable target. Humanity was at it's darkest hour. Not even the Spartans could stop them.

Then they did. Or one did. Master Chief, John 117. After the ship carrying him jumped away from Reach, they found a ring in space. Alpha Halo. The Covenant pursues them, and Chief was able to destroy the ringworld and the Covenant. But that only delayed the assault.

The Covenant arrived, unleashing it's fury on our world. But the expected glassing never came, as the aliens instead made planetfall in Africa. The reason was an alien artifact, left by what the Covenant called 'the Forerunners', lay beneath Voi, and that artifact could open a portal to the Ark, the control of all the Halos. Alpha Halo and Delta Halo, another ringworld Chief lured the aliens to to distract them from Earth, were only two of a complete set. The Ark could fire them all.

Then Chief defeated them. But he never came back. Only the front half of  _Forward Unto Dawn_ , Sergeant Johnson's flagship returned. The rest of the fleet had withdrawn from the portal once the ground forces had deployed, with the Brute fleet destroyed by Half-jaw's own. Only the Arbiter had made it out alive.

We honored Chief. We had to. The man had possibly been the only thing between humanity and complete annihilation. Now allied with the Arbiter and the Sangheili (And wasn't that fun, finding out the guy who helped save the universe was the one who pulled the trigger on your worst loss?), humanity began to reclaim their colonies, starting with Reach. Every one had a memorial constructed in front of the UNSC headquarters on planet.

But now we face another enemy, one more primordial than anything we've seen. ONI has termed them Abyssals, humanoid spaceships who look like a cross between anime and Cthulhu. It's now up to me, the only other admiral left in the UNSC, besides Hood, to find a way to stop this force. We've set up a new base in orbit of a new planet, one named Formante. A new research group, the Phoenix Organization, supposedly has what we need to combat this new threat.

_Journal of Admiral Steele, January 1, 2564_

Today I arrived at the base, henceforth to be known as FOB Ascendant. Why, I don't know. Some philosophical soul, I presume. It almost hurt to step onto the platform and watch the Pelican return to what was my flagship, the newly launched UNSC  _Infinity_. None of my crew wanted me to leave either, but Fleet Admiral Hood wanted me here. Considering I was the only Admiral besides him to survive the Covenant War could be it. But what we're facing ain't the Covenant. Not even the Sangheili know what they are. The eggheads have designated them 'Abyssals', and I'm out here to fight them. Their mere existence is classified to hell and back.

Officially (I.e., what the UNSC has decided to say anything about), this is just me keeping an eye on possible Covenant-like disturbances. Actually, this is known as Operation Shining Star. I question the naming procedure guy's line of reasoning.

But, it's just me on this space station, above Formante. Before now it was known as  _Prometheus_.

I think I'm noticing a theme here.

Regardless, my office is set up, and the base is in order. In order enough for me to practice marksmanship and physical fitness. Yes I am  _aware_ that it's technically markswomanship. I bet Spartans don't have to deal with that crap.

So now I'm keeping a journal for this whole assignment. Considering I could be here for a few months or the rest of my natural life, it will be a chore to remember to do. I set a reminder for every night, before I go to bed. Phoenix Org. said they'd have the first five assignments to the base out tomorrow. So there's that to look forward to.

_Journal of Admiral Steele, January 2, 2564_

Phoenix emailed me in the morning to tell me Subjects Akatsuki, Hibiki, Ikazuchi, Inazuma, Tenryuu, Ooyodo, Mamiya, Irako, and Akashi would be arriving by 1400 hours. I responded inquiring as to why FOB Ascendant looked like a base for a standard 1-2 million garrison, and not a weapons testing facility or something like that. I got silence in return. Pricks….

I also took the liberty of installing a translator program to my glasses, since those names were all Japanese, and fuck if I was gonna have a bunch of Japanese speakers around and not understand them until someone else came around. While everyone enlisted in the UNSC (i.e., you were selected, though they've both loosened restrictions and cut back on conscription since the desperate war days… Contradiction, thy name is military.) took mandatory language courses, those were mostly English. Since Phoenix is an outside party, I was taking the necessary precautions.

That left me at 0700 hours with nothing much else to do. So I went through my computer and began to do some other work. Among it, decorating.

I am an Admiral, I think I've earned the right to liven up my quarters a little. Blank white isn't my taste. I did keep the lights though. I'm no electrician.

I also took the liberty of encrypting and classifying this journal to hell and back. If anyone were to get past the encryption wall, all they'd see is a redacted to hell and back piece of writing. Probably the only people who can actually read the thing are me, Fleet Admiral Hood, and maybe anyone in the high side of the UEG. Depends on if the UNSC finally gave up martial law.

As a side note, no high officer gets where they are clean. The higher up you go, the blacker your personnel file gets until the only unredacted things on there are your name, rank, and maybe, something having to do with a high profile victory. Everything else? Black ink - er, black highlighter really. Good old technology.

My file? I think the only words legible are my name, rank, and how I earned my first admiralty. You worked your way up the ladder with Covie blood in those days.

After a light lunch (2 pounds of food, compared to 6), I mostly just did paperwork while waiting for 1400 hours to roll around. When it did, I went out to greet the Phoenix ship dropping off the Subjects, though I was really having my suspicions about  _what_  they were.

I will say, a group of teenage girls and young women were  _not_  on that list.

Akatsuki, as a little pop up on my glasses HUD told me, was apparently a destroyer. What? Are they really expecting me to believe these are humanized warships? I'm quite tempted to fire off an email inquiring as to why someone is wasting time and resources with a  _prank_. Either that or I haven't woken up yet. But, well, I did pinch myself. Hurt. Blah.

Hibiki looked a little like Akatsuki, but either a load more tired or a load more bored. She also spoke Russian-accented Japanese. I may have to keep an eye on her. I can smell vodka from here.

Ikazuchi seems rather cheerful. She almost immediately asked to be sent out. I said that we were waiting for further orders.

Inazuma is rather nice. A little clumsy, but she has a heart on her sleeve, for sure.

Together those four are DesDiv 6, though I question where 1-5 are. Maybe they're coming later. Anyway, those four are watched by Tenryuu.

Tenryuu herself is a pretty hot-blooded girl. She has a sword, and an eyepatch. Looks high-tech. I'll bet anyone reading this twenty bucks there's a laser eye under that thing. I'll make sure that sentence is unredacted so anyone reading just sees a bet with no context. I like her though. She has spirit. Though she claims to be a light cruiser… Sure. And Noble Six talked up a storm.

Ooyodo, according to her, is a light cruiser specifically to be my secretary. She's going to handle the menial shit I don't have to do myself, or just have to sign off on. I can only imagine how bad the paperwork will get later, so I'm glad to have her around.

Mamiya and Irako are chefs, basically. They went into the kitchen and took it over. Mamiya acts like a mother and all, and she certainly looks the part. Irako is younger, but just as dedicated to cooking.

Lastly, Akashi is the medic of the group. She mentioned she was here to repair any damages… whatever that means.

So yes, I have nine girls that I believe to be in varying stages of delusion. They're all named after Japanese warships, and all speak Japanese too, so that translator was a good idea. How it works is it translates words said to English, then pipes it into my ear via earpiece. I think they have translators on them already, though I haven't seen any earpieces.

Since they're here now, I decided that I'd test their accuracy on the range first. There was a zero-G range next to the standard lane range, so I figured that would shake them up a little.

The destroyers and Tenryuu floated in the range, a glass sphere lined with rails for targets to move across, and target launchers as well. It was meant to simulate the vacuum environment we'd be fighting the Abyssals in. Well, they would - my responsibility was to ascertain where and when to send them. I was fairly worried for them when they refused vacuum suits, but they seemed to be breathing just fine once they floated out of the airlock.

Turning to the controls, I set a pattern for twelve Covenant Phantoms and thirty Seraphs, the same attack pattern as when the Covenant Supercarrier appeared over Reach.

I saw Tenryuu bark something, an order maybe, but the thick glass separating us mutes it entirely. Then a whole bunch of World War 2 era naval ship weaponry manifested around them. The four destroyers split up slightly, each focusing on a different target. Phantom targets fell quickly, while Tenryuu moves to either fire upon Seraphs or slice them to bits with her sword.

I made a mental note to get her to play Metal Gear Rising.

After they filed out, cheerful about wiping out some targets imitating Covenant tactics, I let them go on to the mess hall for dinner. I sat back in the zero-g control room, utterly shocked.

These girls were actually the ships from World War Two. They were over a thousand years old, former bodies long gone, and about to fight an alien force other aliens knew nothing about. I had seen the Halo carnage reports from the Master Chief's AI, Cortana. She'd scanned the thing and some other Forerunner artifacts so thoroughly if these Abyssals were known, she'd have seen them. They weren't the Flood, that's for certain. They hadn't even left the sector we'd first spotted them in, which the uncreative idiots back at HQ had named Sector A. I mean, come on. Name it something meaningful, you know?

Back to the shipgirls. Shipgirls. I'll float  _that_  name by them and pray I don't get shot to death. But staring at the business end of a Covenant glassing laser kind of makes you dull to any other fear responses.

I absently wondered what my sister would think of all this.

* * *

" _Beautiful, isn't it? Someone should take a picture." Spartan II Jorge-052 muttered as he watched the Covenant Corvette crumple around an Orbital MAC strike. He then placed an armored hand on the shoulder of Spartan III [REDACTED]-B312. "Nice work, by the way."_

" _I aim to please." The newly minted Noble Six responded, still watching the glorious carnage. A light buzzing indicated their comms were being pinged._

" _Five, Six… Get down to the science wing. Doctor Halsey wants a debrief, and Command's saying we're all hers." Spartan III Carter-A259 ordered._

" _Repeat? Sounded like you said Halsey." Jorge sounded surprised as he responded to the odd summons._

" _I did."_

_Jorge turned away from the hole in Sword Base as he replied. "Copy that, on our way." Six turned to follow him as he muttered, now off the radio; "Don't need Command to tell me…. Been hers half me life." Six, like usual, stayed silent. Despite her SPARTAN III upbringings, Six still remembered reading about the original SPARTAN programs, the first ORION, then the SPARTAN IIs._

_It was a quiet walk down to the science wing. Neither Spartan were feeling particularly chatty at the moment. Catherine Halsey… there was someone you didn't meet everyday, even if you were a product of her SCIENCE! Lovechild._

_Noble Team was gathered in a room when Five and Six arrived, speaking with Dr. Halsey through a security wall and shield door. It seemed Halsey was chewing out Carter for some perceived slight._

" _I requested your assistance, Commander, and do not need a report on events that occur on my own doorstep. What I_ do  _require is a detailed account of your previous engagement-" She stopped talking as Jorge and Six entered. "Jorge. It's been too long."_

_Jorge just said "Ma'am."_

" _Now what have you done with my armor?" Halsey almost sounded like a parent asking their child what they'd made in crafts class that day._

* * *

" _Well, never thought I'd see you here."_

_Noble team glanced around at the empty hallway, before focusing ahead._

" _I really hope you didn't think those Marines that fought alongside you and probably bit it came from nowhere. Alongside the Longsword fighters and orbital strike." A female officer, wearing a Vice Admiral's uniform came around a corner, hands behind her back and a look of supreme irritation on her face. "After all, when I'm ordered to bring down a Covenant corvette near a well known ONI base because of a team of Spartans, I don't expect one of them to be_ my sister."  _Six flinched, enough that Carter noticed it out of the corner of his eye._

" _Six?" He left the question unasked._

" _Or should he say, Terra Steele, Spartan Beta 312?" A now thoroughly incensed Vice Admiral Aqua Steele glowered, the look on her face promising dire retribution on any direct questions._

" _I… I think-"_

" _She thinks you'd do well to leave and let us have ourselves a little family reunion." Aqua said in a very, very false cheer. "Otherwise we find out how durable a Spartan's armor systems are to repeated percussive force."_

_Most Spartan IIIs weren't the most cowardly types. But a high-up UNSC officer looking like nothing short of the Covenant glassing Reach at that moment would stop any violent recourse was enough to even send Emile walking by at a pace a step too fast. That left Six alone to deal with the thunderous Vice Admiral, who bore down on her with fury written all over her face, in big fuckin' letters._

" _Now, sis, I can explain-" Six began, holding up her hands, before Aqua cut her off._

" _Explain what? That you're here instead of putting down Insurrection cells in the Middle Colonies? That I was pulled to do what a mythical Spartan couldn't? Or that you never called or wrote?_ Pick one."  _Aqua snarled._

_Six sighed. She really hated when her older sister got like this. "Sorry, sis, but ONI was really strict about communications. Even when I was out, they kept an eye on me. We weren't permitted to talk about this to anyone. Hell, only Vice Admirals and above are the only ones to even know we're Spartan IIIs, not IIs." The spartan fiddled with an equipment pouch as she explained herself. "That a recent achievement?"_

" _Yes." Her sister replied shortly. Then she sighed. "Take off the damn helmet. I feel like I'm trying to reconnect to a robot." Six reached up and pulled the helmet off, short blonde tresses emerging from the protective headgear as she pulled the helmet off for the first time in years, became Terra instead of B312._

" _You know how much of a pain in the ass getting that back in is, right?" Green eyes met gold as Terra griped about her hair. A small smirk appeared on Aqua's face._

" _Hence why I keep mine short. Granted, it's been a while since Commander, but old habits die hard." She shrugged. Then she wrapped her arms around the armored girl. "I missed you, Ter."_

" _And I missed you too, Sis." Terra gently returned the hug, trying not to crush her big sister with her enhanced strength. The two separated, now grinning. Aqua sighed as her communicator began to chime._

" _That'll be Ignia on the_ Ascendant _. I have to go." She then punched the Spartan on the shoulder. "Write next time, okay?"_

" _I will." Terra answered before gathering up her hair and replacing her helmet. Six was back, where a girl had been. "Stay safe."_

" _It's the Covenant." Aqua snorted. "None of us are safe."_

* * *

She'd be having a riot. For all ONI touted their creating sociopaths, they either overlooked or failed with my sister. Didn't stop her from doing her job damn well, but Steeles get it done.

I stood and made for the mess hall. It was a rather short walk, during which I glanced around at the station's greenery. It was obviously imported - there were no Terra apple trees on Formante - but the greenery spiced up the station enough to almost make me forget about it all. The last time I had spoken to my parents they had asked when they could expect grandkids. I said later. They asked why. I replied with 'I got a new assignment far away from any human reproductive organs, that's why.'

I was lost in thought as I entered the mess hall, only to notice Tenryuu and her charges standing, and saluting. Well, not the UNSC salute. If anything, it would be an IJN salute. A quick 'at ease' got them to sit back down and continue eating, as I got my food from Irako and came to join them. Inazuma scooted over a bit as I sat next to her.

"So how's your first day here?" I asked after a quick taste of my beef sandwich - not eating half the thing like a starved animal after the first bite.

"Mmm, I like the target practice, but something else would be nice, I think." Akatsuki said. The rest nodded. Unanimous. I was breaking out the holoconsole tonight it seemed.

"I gotta say, I wasn't sure about ya. First thing I hear when I return is something about space and all that, then it turns out we  _are_  in space, then we're getting a 'United Nations Space Command' Admiral. It was a real big wakeup call." Tenryuu pointed at me with her knife. "But I like you. Didn't interfere in the practice. Never floated at my targets before, but I suppose that's what this is for." She pointed out her belt, which had a pair of thrusters like HALO packs on the sides. The rest of the girls had them too. "So far, so good."

"Good." I nodded, finishing the last bite of sandwich. Mamiya and Irako's cooking was far and away better than any Navy canteen slop I'd reluctantly digested when working my way up the ranks. The mess hall might be a decent eating place now. Then I dropped the big one.

"Are you actually ships?"

All of them were quiet, looking at each other as if asking the other to answer.

"Yes."

The blunt answer in Russian-accented Japanese had me glancing towards Hibiki. The destroyer for her part looked utterly unbothered by that. For me, I stood, walked to the store room, and grabbed the largest bottle of Jack Daniels I saw.

"I'm going to need  _this_  for this explanation." I dryly declared before twisting the cap off and upending the bottle. Three seconds of chugging later and I dropped it, the now two-thirds full bottle 'thunk'ing onto the table. "Do tell?"

"So, when our ship selves sank, we all just kind of went to sleep, nanodesu." Inazuma started. "Then we heard this call, and when we woke up, it was like this in a room."

" _Magnificent_." I droned, taking a swig. Tennessee may be flyover, but dammit if whiskey wasn't something they could do right.

"Then these guys came to talk to us in these odd uniforms. Said we were being transferred to here, from there. Then we got on this real big ship and into these tubes and it got cold and suddenly here we are." Ikazuchi picked up. "So why is it always night?"

I stood up, dropped my right hand on her shoulder, and gently guided her to a window.

"Look down." I said. She did.

"Wha! What's that?!" She cried.

"That is planet Formante, one in the…. What was it, Derring system? You're on a space station. That ship? A starship Phoenix Organization has. Tubes? Cryosleep tubes for slipspace travel. At least the Sangheili helped us get the travel time and accuracy better." I then drank again. "Welcome to the 26th century, and the United Nations Space Command. Wait. Didn't Tenryuu mention this earlier?"

"I did."

"We just finished fighting a genocidal alien cult collective ten years ago, and now we're out here fighting goddamn Great Old Ones or some shit." I polished off the bottle of whiskey and went to get a new one. "Life sucks."

When I did get my new one, I left the mess hall to check on my office, then turn in. I passed Ooyodo sitting at the desk outside the office -secretary, right- and saw nothing out of the ordinary. I bid her goodnight as I came out, then made my way past the barracks I now knew were shipgirl dorms to my quarters. I dropped the (now empty) bottle onto my desk, shucked off my clothes, and just flopped onto my bed, the pressure sensors dimming the lights for sleep.

* * *

 

**Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell~o there!**

**So, this here's what I've been spending…. Some of my time on. I really wrote this in about a week. If that'll keep up, I dunno.**

**So why crossover KanColle and Halo? Well, I saw one that was done really well (For Earth and All Her Colonies, heavy recommend), with a Halo shipgirl in the KanColle verse, so I thought I could do the same in reverse! Sort of.**

**So I spent a weekend going over UNSC ship classes.**

**I made a** _**list** _ **.**

**It will be provided next. Enjoy… or not.**

**AWAY!**


	2. Ship List

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The list of ships that may or may not appear in this fanfiction.
> 
> Plus formatting.

**You see how crazy I am now?**

**Enjoy a preview of ships up to chapter 4. I’m too lazy to have it be just the posted chapters.**

* * *

 

Key:

No after punctuation: Halo ship class

-: KanColle ship class

\: modified Halo ship class

|: Azur Lane ship class

/:original ship class

[#]: Chapter Introduced

{#}: Chapter Planned to Introduce

(#) Number of (planned) ships

 

A: Admiral Hipper class heavy cruiser(1)-

Aether class science vessel(1) [2]

Ajax class heavy frigate(1)

Akagi class carrier(1)- [2]

Akashi class repair ship(1)-[1]

Akatsuki class destroyer(4)- [1]

Akizuki class destroyer(4)- [3]

Ark Royal class carrier(1)-

Ark Royal class supercarrier(1)

Armstrong class heavy corvette(2)

Artemis class battlecruiser/standard cruiser(4)\

Amber class heavy frigate(1)/

Aquila class carrier(1)-

Asclepius class repair ship(1)\

Ashford class frigate(5)

Athena class frigate escort(10)

Autumn class cruiser(1)

Avery class heavy cruiser(2)

B: Bastion class carrier(2)

Battlestar class battlecruiser(1)/

Bismarck class battleship(1)- [4]

Black Wolf class light cruiser(2)\

C: Cavalier class destroyer(4)

Centurion class hunter-killer(2)\

Cerberus class stealth frigate(2)/

D: Damocles class heavy carrier(2)

Dawn class heavy cruiser(1)/

Deliverance class assault frigate(6)

Destiny class dreadnought battleship(1)/

Devastator class super heavy carrier(2)

Dreadnought class… dreadnought battleship(2...ish*)/ [4]

*One is the actual HMS Dreadnought, the other’s a theoretical UNSC Dreadnought. Might change spellings for differentiation.*

E: Eclipse class prowler(4)

Elysium class heavy cruiser(2)

Endeavor class assault cruiser(2)

Enterprise class shock battlecruiser(2)/

Essex class carrier(1)-

F: Falling Star class carrier escort(12)

Fubuki class destroyer(4)- [2]

Fusou class battleship(2)-

G: Gladiator class light cruiser(1)

Gorgon class battleship(1)

Graf Zeppelin class carrier(1)-

Griffin class frigate(2)

Guardian class repair ship(1)\ [3]

Gunnerside class frigate(4)/

H: Hades class heavy battlecarrier(1)

Halcyon class light cruiser(6)

Harvest class battleship(1)

Hayasui class supply ship(1)-

Helios class heavy frigate(2)

Herald class prowler(4)

Hood class battleship(1)/ [4]

Houshou class light carrier(1)-

Hyperion class heavy destroyer(4)

I: Irako class supply ship(1)-[1]

Indestructible class battleship(3)/ [3]

Indomitable class battleship(3)/

Imperative class armory ship(1) [3]

Impulse class stealth frigate(2)

Infinity class dreadnought battleship(1)\

K: Kagemusha class prowler(2)

Kamoi class supply ship(1) [3]

Katori class light cruiser(2)-

Keyes class battlecruiser(2)

Kongo(u) class battleship(4)- [4]

Kusanagi class stealth frigate(4)

L: Lexington class carrier(1)-

Luna class research ship(1)\ [2]

M: Mako class light corvette(2)

Mammoth class destroyer(6)

Mamiya class supply ship(1)-[1]

Marathon class heavy cruiser(4)

Mercury class destroyer(4)

Minerva class prowler(2)

Miranda class heavy cruiser(2)

Mogami class heavy cruiser(2)-

Mutsuki class destroyer(4)-

N: Nagato class battleship(2)-

Nelson class battleship(1)-

O: Obsidian class heavy prowler(2)

Ooyodo class light cruiser(1)- [1]

Orion class assault carrier(2)

P: Paladin class heavy destroyer(4) [3]

Pegasus class cruiser-carrier(2)

Pendragon class supercarrier(1)

Phoenix class research ship(1)\

Platinum class destroyer(2)

Presidential class supercarrier(45)\

*Note about above ship class: Those are actual things, though I’m kind of sure/not sure they’re all supercarriers. (They aren’t.) Also, only having 45 appear because if I have more there will be flame wars.*

Prince of Wales class battleship(1)/ [4]

Province class assault cruiser(2)

Q: Queen Elizabeth class battleship(2)-

Quetzalcoatl class light frigate(1)

R: Ragnarok class dreadnought carrier(1)

Reach class dreadnought battleship(1)\

Reaper class super battleship(2)

Reckoning class attack prowler(2)

Remembrance class frigate(4)

Retribution class battlecruiser(2)

Revenge class light cruiser(2)

S: Sendai class light cruiser(2)-

Sentinel class defense ship(8)

Sentry class heavy corvette(2)

Serenity class frigate(4)

Shadow class stealth cruiser(2)

Shimakaze class destroyer(4)-

Shiratsuyu class destroyer(4)-

Shoukaku class carrier(4)-

Sol class dreadnought cruiser(2)

State class dreadnought battleship(50)/

-Texas class(3)/ [4]

-Iowa class(4)/

-New York class(4)/

-Washington class(4)/

-Dakota class(2)/

-Carolina class(2)/

-Arizona class(4)/

-Missouri class(4)/

-Alaska class(4)/

-Hawaii class(4)/

-Louisiana class(4)/

-Virginia class(4)/

-Kentucky class(4)/

-Missouri class(3)/

Striker class shock destroyer(4)/

Supply class resupply ship(4)/

T: Taihou class heavy carrier(1)-

Takao class heavy cruiser(2)-

Tempest class light cruiser(2)

Templar class light cruiser(2)

Tenryuu class light cruiser(2)-[1] [2]

Thanatos class prowler(4)

Thermopylae class supercarrier(1)

Thor class corvette(4)

Titan class dreadnought carrier(1)

Type J3 class stealth ship(1)-

Type AM class stealth ship(1)-

Type B1 class stealth ship(1)-

Type B3 class stealth ship(1)-

Type XIV class resupply ship(2)/

Kaidai V class stealth ship(1)-

U: Ulysses class heavy cruiser(2)

Unryuu class carrier(2)-

Y: Yamato class dreadnought battleship(2)- [4]

Yorktown class supercarrier(3)-

Yuubari class light cruiser(2)-

Z: Zara class heavy cruiser(2)

Total ships:~398. Fuck me.

Fun fact: at one point I had 344 ships.

 

Abyssals:

I-class

Ro-class

Ha-class

Ni-class

Na-class

Tsu-class

Chi-class

Ri-class

Ne-class

Ru-class

Ta-class

Re-class

Wo-class

Armored Carrier Princess

Anchored Planet Princess

Southern Sector Princess

Starfield Princess

Battleship Princess

Spaceport Princess

Isolated Princess

Starcraft Carrier Princess

Northern Sector Princess

Midway Princess

Supply Depot Princess

Heavy Cruiser Princess

Central Princess

Twin Planet Princesses

Neo Battleship Princess

Europa Princess

Night Star Princesses


	3. Admiral's Log; Day 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Admiral Steele receives more shipgirls, trains her first five some more, and has some fun with over-the-top action games. All in a day's work.

**Thanks to DragonLatios, iZuikaku, and** **Abdi Shabill051096** **for the follow/favs. You stoke my ego so.**

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_Journal of Admiral Steele, January 3, 2564_

 

Waking up with not-quite-a-hangover, but a decent headache was fun. Thankfully a quick application of water and coffee fixed that right off.

 

I went to the office first, to see if there was anything I needed to sign off/ignore/send back with several swears written on it, in four different languages.

 

Long story.

 

I was quite surprised to see Ooyodo sitting at her desk ahead of me, considering it was 0730 hours. I would think most people would sleep in a little later - it had taken me four months of UNSC training to get me up earlier than 0900 hours - but there she was, a steaming mug of coffee on her desk as she typed away.

 

“Morning.” I greeted her, raising my own mug.

 

“Good morning, Admiral.” She inclined her head in greeting. “Work morning?”

 

“Unless my office spontaneously combusted.” I replied. Thankfully, it hadn’t. Also thankfully, all the things were in a neat little stack. It only took half an hour to finish. I thanked Ooyodo for that, to which the shipgirl replied she was only doing her job.

 

If only actual UNSC secretaries could be clones of her. Then we might actually get work done.

 

I entered the mess hall to find a similar scene from last night, Tenryuu and DesDiv 6 eating, the two… I guess they’re cooking ships now, in the kitchen. I got food and went to join them again.

 

“Morning Admiral!” Like yesterday, Ikazuchi was the cheerful one.

 

“Morning.” I greeted before digging in, sighing as I really woke up.

 

“So what’s up today?” Tenryuu asked me, leaning over the table slightly.

 

I pulled out my tablet, consulting the schedule I’d put on it in the office.

 

“Let’s see… I think we’re going to do some agility training today, then Phoenix is bringing by more shipgirls at 1400 hours again. I’ll stick em in the range like you and see how they do, then pretty much last night without the drinking hopefully.” I rattled off.

 

“I see.” The light cruiser - seriously, _human ship_ \- leaned back. “Shipgirls, huh? I suppose that’s a good enough term.”

 

Oh shit. I forgot to ask.

 

“Uhhh-“ I was aware of my face attempting to become a star.

 

“Nah, nah, it’s fine.” Tenryuu gave me a smirk. “If anything it’s exactly what I’d expect someone would come up with after a day around us.” I sighed in relief. I would rather avoid a 104’’ tri-autocannon blast to the face.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention.

 

How shipgirls fight is they summon these sort of… pieces of their original bodies? I guess. Anyway, Phoenix did me the favor of updating their summon weapons to UNSC class standards. It still _looked_ like WWII era naval weaponry, but it fired UNSC depleted plutonium/fibrosteel rounds at 10,000 RPM, or Archer missile pods instead of… torpedo tubes I guess? Unfortunately, they hadn’t worked out a way to give them MACs yet.

 

Now, if I had a portable Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, there would be less problems in the galaxy.

 

On the subject of classes, there’s about ten thousand of them in the UNSC fleet, and I’d _rather_ not have _all_ of them. I had a feeling this new fleet would run me ragged with only ten.

 

I contemplated applying for Fleet Admiral rank once I had a fleet. Bigger than five combat-capable shipgirls anyway.

 

Onto more boring things I guess.

 

The training course, different from the ranges, was more about movement. There were still targets set up, but the focus of the average UNSC soldier/Marine was making it through the course as fast as possible, as accurate as possible, with the least amount of paint on them possible. All while hefting about 85 pounds of equipment and trying not to drop their assault rifle.

 

What, you think we did live fire training? Jesus, no. We’d kill most of the recruits and the others wouldn’t be very effective.

 

I explained as much to the five shipgirls, before sending Akatsuki in first to both test her improvisation and demonstrate. I was pleasantly surprised to see her come out with only one half of her coated in paint. Normal recruit would be soaked.

 

“You did that on purpose.” She accuses me.

 

“Maybe. You did better than any other recruit if it makes you feel any better. Eyes closed.” I aimed the cleaning hose at her. Look, I didn’t come up with these weird-ass training things okay?

 

A spray of water later and the now clean Akatsuki was watching Hibiki run the course. She did better, having a vague idea of what to do, only having an arm steeped in paint. She sat with it in a water bucket as Ikazuchi and Inazuma ran it. Both had what amounted to a slap on the wrist in paint.

 

Then Tenryuu ran it. I will say, never saw anyone _slice_ the paintballs in half to avoid getting hit. She came out clean.

 

Mind. Gutter. Out.

 

With that I mentioned that they could have told each other about the course to make it easier on them. The destroyers all gave some exasperated response, to which I replied that they should have thought of it themselves. I was taking it easier on them because I knew they weren’t soldiers fighting extinction, but I wasn’t gonna make it easy.

 

Then it was time to meet the new shipgirls.

 

According to the email, I was expecting Fubuki, Shirayuki, Hatsuyuki, Miyuki, Aether, Akagi, Luna, and Tatsuta. Tenryuu was particularly excited about the last one, since it was her sister ship.

 

Also as a side note, I’m asking if Phoenix has a Japanophile in their R&D, because all but two of the shipgirls I’ll have are Japanese. Or they’re just doing it because of easy reference pools. Though in that case I question why a United States ship hasn’t shown up. They _had_ the most powerful navy on Earth before the formation of the UNSC and UEG.

 

“Fubuki/Shirayuki/Hatsuyuki/Miyuki, reporting for duty!” The four destroyers stated in union, identical salutes in place. I dismissed them and they immediately booked it to DesDiv 6, which were greeting them like puppies, minus the ass-sniffing.

 

“Hey, sis!” Tatsuta called to Tenryuu. “If I’d known you were into girls-“

 

“Shut it Tatsuta.” Tenryuu smiled as she clamped her hand over her sister’s mouth. Looks like that’ll be a common occurrence.

 

“Akagi-san, carrier service ready!” Akagi obviously. What the hell is she wearing? Is that a longbow? And why the hell is her bust size so large?

 

Finally, a non-Japanese shipgirl in a grey overcoat stepped forward. Nothing against them, but variety, ya know?

 

“UNSC Aether, research vessel reporting, ma’am.” She saluted. I returned the salute and directed her to where Akashi had set up her practice. Research and repair…. sweet, I’ll have my own R&D department before too long if they keep this up.

 

“UNSC Luna, research vessel, prepared for duty, Admiral.” Luna went about the same as Aether. The two looked similar to each other, but I just chalked that up to similar purposes.

 

As promised, the new destroyers had their range time. They were rather effective, clearly used to improvisation and teamwork on their own, unlike DesDiv 6. I could roll with that.

 

Unfortunately, eight destroyers, two light cruisers and a carrier do not an effective fleet make. I remember the Covenant war, and we didn’t win without a three to one advantage and suffered heavy losses anyways. They weren’t leaving until I got a few more units, dammit. Besides, the Abyssals didn’t seem to be moving around outside Sector A, which was both great and worrying.

 

Great, because I had an excuse to sit on my ass, which as any military commander can tell you, is to be worshiped with all your being.

 

Worrying, because that could mean they’re preparing for something. All the way from expanding Sector A to raiding the FOB to cooking dinner.

 

On that subject, time to get some.

 

I brought my food back to the office this time - a sandwich meant maybe I could get something else done, failing that, eat while I procrastinate. I saw Ooyodo with her own sub sitting at her desk, and I’ve theorized she either slept there or didn’t sleep at all. Considering the others have slept, why would we have the dorms otherwise, I’m probably just being the weird former ODST again.

 

As a side note, insanity does not preclude one from enjoying a quick season of Red vs Blue. The fact it was a satire of the training any soldier went through helped.

 

“Admiral?” A knocking on my door alerted me to someone wanting to speak to me. I called them in, then mentioned the door was unlocked.

 

“Yeah, but, privacy and all, y’know?” Tenryuu said as she raised the eyebrow above her visible eye.

 

“So, what brings you here?” I asked, glancing up from my email. Crap, crap, spam, daily report to Hood, telling my parents _not_ to use me and my sister’s reputations to brag, spam, pornsite? Most likely a virus. Junk.

 

Don’t you love technology sometimes?

 

“The rugrats were wondering why you didn’t eat with us at dinner. I said I’d ask.” The light cruiser shrugged as she dropped into a chair in front of my desk. She glanced around the office, taking note of my redecoration. “Nice digs.”

 

“I don’t sleep in here.” I said. “But thank you.”

 

“What are those?” I followed the outstretched finger to one of my favorite pieces of wall decor, two Gravity Hammers I’d crossed under my old ODST unit’s emblem. Screamin’ Leapers, 403rd ODST division.

 

“Spoils of war. Those Brutes don’t let ‘em go easy.” I mentioned, then returned to my email.

 

“Brutes?” I flipped my monitor around to show her the official file. “Cool.” She flashed me a thumbs up, and a toothy grin. “I can say now I really like ya, Admiral.”

 

I snorted. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” I deadpanned. Then I remembered something from yesterday. “Hey, Tenryuu, c’mere.”

 

“What?” She circled around my desk, completely confused as I began to navigate my computer’s filepaths while rummaging in my desk drawer. C’mon, I know it’s in there….

 

Bingo, controller. I set it on the desk and deftly plugged it in, then found Metal Gear Rising. I went and opened the game and handed her the controller.

 

“Here. Play this.”

 

“Why?” She was giving the controller a sideways look. I gave her my best sunny smile.

  
“I think you’ll really enjoy it.” She shrugged, and began to play. She sat down in the chair I pulled around for her as we began to watch the first cutscene.

 

\------

 

“ **RULES OF NATURE!** ”

 

“ _Holy shit I just threw that giant mecha and now I’m slicing it to pieces this game is awesome!_ ” Tenryuu was squealing -squealing!- as she tore Metal Gear RAY a new one. I simply sat back in my chair and smirked. Suspicion paid off. I probably earned a friend for life with this.

 

“Hey.” I looked up. The light cruiser had paused the game, in the middle of Raiden doing some particularly Flippy Shit(™), and was staring at the screen thoughtfully. “Think I could bring this out to the mess hall or something?” I winced. Already with that question.

 

“Unfortunately, no. I don’t happen to have a projector on hand.” She wilted slightly, until I patted her on the shoulder. “Which is why DesDiv 6 are on their way now.”

 

“How’d you know?!” She asked, eye wide in shock. I smirked.

 

“Admirals are psychic, you know?” She punched me on the shoulder -thankfully, lightly- and went back to the game. So much so she didn’t look up to find her destroyers cheering her on, with Inazuma parked in my lap until she took a small break to rest her hands and saw them.

 

So we had a small game night in my office. It gave me some _ideas_. But that would wait for some other time. I had a mountain of credits sitting in my bank account like a dragon’s hoard -the benefits of military service for… coming on 7 years now?- but what I was planning would have to wait.

 

It’d work better with more than eleven ships anyways.

 

\---------

 

_ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) Personnel File: Admiral Aqua Steele_

 

_Name: Steele, Aqua_

_Height: 183 cm (1.83m), 6’0’’_

_Weight: 172 lbs._

_Rank: Admiral_

_Relations: [REDACTED], sister, [REDACTED] mother, [REDACTED], father_

 

 _Career: Marine; 205th Armored, ODST; 403rd division, Vice Admiral; UNSC heavy battlecruiser_ Radiant Dawn _, Admiral; supercarrier_ Sworn Vengeance _, Admiral; dreadnought battleship_ Infinity _, Admiral; [REDACTED]_

 

_Commendations: UNSC Colonial Cross, Medal of Honor, Gold Star, Legion of Honor_

 

_Notes: Subject is observed to have excellent leadership capabilities. Subject also has massive chip on shoulder, likely due to [REDACTED]. Subject demonstrates lack of self-preservation, often completing tasks deemed too insane for an ODST due to this lack. Has been selfless in terms of allowing others a chance to reach safety first. Prefers heavy weapons. Also known to engage Brutes and Elites in hand-to-hand or melee combat and survive._

\---------

**So I return! With a chapter written about…. A day or two after the last one, but not posted until Christmas, because I love you all so.**

 

**Also because chapter buffer. I’m motivated now, and hopefully this will keep me so.**

 

**Also, posting new stuff gets me new followers, and that does these wonderful things to my ego.**

 

**Off topic somewhat, but I never really thought I’d get into a game like KanColle. I blame the internet.**


	4. Admiral's Log; Day 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Admiral Steele sorties her newfound fleet into Sector A for the most imperative of missions.... Reconnaissance.

**FF Favorites and Reviews:**

**Thanks to FreeWar and freechimchangas for the favorites! Free day today it seems.**

**The Review Inbox:**

**iZuikaku: I've been thinking about getting Azur Lane for a while now, but I don't have it. Thanks for the recommendation, anyways.**

**KCNederland: Thanks! I suppose my crazy idea has some merit buried under my terrible ass writing.**

**I suppose the pacing is rushed, but it seems slow to me, personally. That might have something to do with my brain running two times faster than normal, but it's probably just me.**

**Character development is actually going to be my main priority for chapters 5 and 6. It's the weekend, after all, and even a military base need decomp time.**

**Yuri... Uh, we'll see.**

**It's more than a single line, I think, but I do agree I haven't described Admiral Steele too well. I'll try and outline her appearance in chapter 5, I guess. I already have chapters 3 and 4 written, and I'm not changing them beyond minor edits.**

**Thanks for the feedback anyway!**

**Send your reviews, I'll answer them above. That's what the box is for, y'know.**

* * *

_Journal of Admiral Steele; January 4, 2564_

Back to the grind again…. thank the gods for caffeine.

After letting the kids stay up a little late watching their leader play a game, I'd finally kicked them out around 1800 hours. Gently, of course.

I found them regaling the other destroyers with tales of Tenryuu fangirling over the game. She denied them all, but that blush was visible from Reach.

"Admiral! Is it true Tenryuu is a fangirl?!" Fubuki asked eagerly as I sat down. I gave a nod with all the gravity of a star.

"Yes. And for that, she must face the most dire of punishments:  _public knowledge_." I intoned. The destroyers broke down into laughter, and Tatsuta was struggling to hold in her giggles.

"Morning!" A mountain of food was placed next to me, Akagi following it to the table.

"Jesus Akagi, you off a ranch while I wasn't looking?" I asked. She gave me a sideways look. "Think you have enough food?" I clarified as I pointed at the food mountain in front of her.

"Of course!" She chirped, and then… well shit. Sounds like a shredder going to work.

I'm breaking out my old friend Jack today looks like.

Ignoring that little existential crisis, I got to see why Akagi has a bow on the lane range. Her 'arrows' are actually fighters. Way back when they would probably have been standard Japanese planes, like the Zero or some such, but now they were UNSC Longsword and Rapier fighters. When she shot an arrow, the ships would form from it, attack the target in a predetermined formation, then head back, landing on for what all the world looked like the deck of an aircraft carrier, before returning to her. That mountain of food was to keep them all resupplied, or she could gnaw on bauxite.

Christ.

I left her about the range, trusting her not to break anything as I wandered to my office, dully noticing the proximity sensors registering a Phoenix ship entering the defensive perimeter.

Oh,  _shit_.

I mentally thanked the ODST training from hell for saving me from that run. A half-mile? If I had been a bog-standard pre-War Admiral, that run would have been torture. But ODSTs did runs like that in our sleep.

Again, there's a reason we're all considered top-rate insane.

I made it to the receiving bay just as the ship opened the airlock, allowing me to greet the new arrivals, as usual.

"Akizuki and DesDiv 12 reporting for duty!" Akizuki and her squadmates saluted. I let them run off to find the other destroyers.

"UNSC Paladin, reporting." Paladin saluted me, textbook. From the three others behind her, identical in everything but hairstyle, I assume they're Judicator, Justice, and Mercy. These UNSC destroyers were dressed differently, for sure. For one, they wore dark grey officer coats instead of white sailor uniforms, and they didn't have hats. Cool.

I returned their salute and sent them off. It should be interesting, watching UNSC shipgirls interact with the WWII shipgirls. Wait, they did get a refresher on  _why_  they're here, right?

"UNSC Guardian, here to perform repairs, ma'am." Hmm, another repair ship. I sent her to what I was now going to term the R&D area. So far the repair and science ships are getting on like a house on fire, some more won't hurt.

And if they get me a railgun it definitely won't hurt.

"Kamoi, reporting for duty." Yup, supply ship. Motherly and all. I sent her to work with her fellow suppliers, excellent timing considering Akagi's eating habits. I was getting tempted to help them myself, and ODSTs aren't the best chefs in the UNSC.

"UNSC Imperative, ready for action!" Oh? A resupply ship? So today's a support unit day, huh? Alrighty.

With the excitement over, I returned to my office.

Sign off, sign off, reject, ignore, blah blah blah….

I don't like paperwork, in case you didn't notice.

Anyways, I now had what I considered enough numbers to begin scouting and recon into Sector A.

To wit, I called all the combat capable ships that weren't in the R&D division into my office. The twelve destroyers, two light cruisers, and one carrier were to scout the Sector and confirm it's size and shape. Once done, the eggheads would divide the sector into sections. I designated Akagi flagship, mentioning her recon ships would be effective for the operation. If they were spotted by enemy forces and engaged, they had the option to either fight or retreat, but they could not initiate hostilities. All of them saluted, and left for the staging platform.

I was quite surprised that they all lifted off in a formation. I guess they did that to impress me? I dunno, maybe it's cause they're ships. Though, I do recall seeing the  _Aether_  recently….

Ignoring that, I went on to other things, like brushing up on my SRS99C sniping skills. And my M6G Magnum skill. I basically went through the entire armory making sure I hadn't gotten too rusty with my shooting. Then I went to the melee training area and drew a silver barbell from my thigh.

The energy sword ignited with that magnificent *kssh*, the plasma blade extending in front of and surrounding my wrist. I went through some sword forms I'd learned from a Sangheili swordsmaster on… was it Gemini II? I'm pretty sure it was Gemini II. He'd been surprised a human wanted to learn his species' most honorable combat style. I think that earned politics points for us. Bah, politics.

Turning the blade off, I went off to check the dorms. Yup, each had their own common rooms, so that part of the plan would work.

The second part also looked to be a viable option soon, as Kamoi came to me and requested supplies to build a bar, basically. I approved, then asked who'd run it. She said they'd be here tomorrow.

The suspense, man.

The fleet returned at 1700 hours, none of them with injury. They'd scouted the Sector, about 2400 by 1700 AUs, if we were going rectangular. I sent off the area as required and sent them to dinner. The after-action report from Akagi mentioned no resistance was encountered, but they spotted enemy movement. Small types. I included images her recon ships had taken in the report.

The mess hall was lively as the girls celebrated a successful mission. Better than during the war, where it was either temporary stalemate or devastating loss. Of course, it had nothing on the celebration we had when we realized we weren't going to die in 2553.

Every shipgirl was there, and there was food to go around. Half the fun was keeping Akagi away from it to ensure everyone else could eat. Of course, boob jokes disguised as fuel tank jokes were made, thankfully flying over the destroyers' heads. They acted way too much like kids for me to be comfortable understanding that.

Of course, this was an easy mission. They only get worse from here.

* * *

_Greetings, Admiral Steele._

_Your directory access is Classification Level 7._

_Retrieving file..._

_ONI Personnel File: SPARTAN Lieutenant [REDACTED Terra] B312 (Noble Six)_

_Homeworld: [REDACTED Reach]_

_Birthdate: [REDACTED 2544]_

_Rank: Lieutenant_

_Career: Marine; 25th Infantry; SPARTAN III (Beta Company)_

* * *

**The Rant**

**And so our intrepid shipgirls charted a sector for future endeavors.**

**Also, a party was had.**

**In all seriousness, it's not going to be all fine and dandy every mission. I'll get to that later. For now, easy missions to**   **ease them into it.**

**Commanding isn't pretty.**

**Also, a Merry-ass Christmas to you, depending on when I post this. Once I get out of December, I plan on having this be a biweekly or monthly series, so as to give me time to work on other projects, since these are relatively easy to write. But please, feel free to drop a review/follow/favorite/whatever whenever you'd like. I won't mind.**

**Also railguns.**

**Publish note: Almost didn't get this out on time! I blame Stardew Valley; I found out why it's addicting. Now to romance my waifus (Not sorry).**


	5. Admiral's Log; Day 5: Search and Destroy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Admiral Steele's fleet gains some Superior Firepower, and embarks on their first combat mission.
> 
> And ghosts, maybe.

**So I've made an executive decision to start possibly including shipgirls from games other than KanColle and Halo/my own fucked up mind. I guess send requests and I'll research or something.**

**Either way, I have reading to do.**

**Thanks for the follow/fav Fid99.**

**With no more egostrok- imean thanking, onward!**

* * *

_Journal of Admiral Steele; January 5, 2564_

Another day, another day, another coffee. Praise the caffeine gods. They bless us with their gift.

Dramatics aside, I put through requisition orders for stuff to build a small gathering place. Considering the most likely outcome would be loads of destroyers and a few other ship types, most of the population would be  _under_  the drinking age… in appearance at least. So I was vetoing a pure bar and instead having it be like a small restaurant…. with a bar.

Look, it was a good idea, alright?

I also ordered a half dozen holoconsoles. The best part of those was that they played any game you could think of, even ancient ones from the 1980s. It was great for someone like me, who was about to have what amounted to a really fucked up family on their hands.

Guh, why am I discussing that with myself?

So today's new arrivals are Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Hood, Dreadnought, Bismarck, Kongo, Hiei, Kirishima, Haruna, Prince of Wales, Yamato, Musashi, and Houshou. Some recognizable names there. This is a battleship shipment… okay, let's try that again.

They're sending the big guns now. Probably has to do with them getting the data from yesterday's recon mission.

They've divided the sector into six subsectors: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, and Foxtrot. Standard naming convention. Though the whole sector is still Sector A so…. yeah.

Logging off, I went off to the range to burn the half-hour until they arrived. I spent the time focusing on my reaction times. Wait, target, fire, wait. Almost like a real combat situation, but without moving and hearing shouting aliens.

Some of the girls were also on the range. Paladin and her sisters were trying to one-up each other for distance, Akagi was calmly practicing bombing runs, and Tenryuu was leading the destroyers in maneuvering training in the zero-g range. Good.

When the ship pulled up to the receiving bay, there I was, as usual. After brushing up on my ship history, I learned I was getting some of the most powerful ships on Earth. Back in the early 20th century, HMS  _Dreadnought_  had literally sparked a naval arms race, a naval arms race that lead to the constructions of  _Texas_ ,  _Arkansas_ ,  _Louisiana_ ,  _Bismarck_ , the  _Kongo_ s,  _Prince of Wales_ , and  _Yamato_ , the last widely considered to be the most powerful battleship ever constructed… well, water ship. Any UNSC ship could blow it out of the water, but it never got to  _use_  it's power because the IJN kept it hidden away because they knew the US could total it in three seconds. Which they did when the Japanese tossed it out as  _bait_.

Christ, our ancestors were a bunch of fucking idiots.

"Texas, here, reporting for duty!" That is a Texas accent alright. And she dresses like the stereotypical 'woman farmer'. Dear god, I'm half expecting an argument to break out over steaks later.

"Arkansas, ready!" Like one, like another, or something to that effect. She looked about the same, at any rate. As was Louisiana.

"Dreadnought, at your service, Admiral." She certainly had an air of dignity around her. I really hope she isn't too ornery, and if she meets UNSC Dreadnought, bad things don't happen.

The next two really surprised me.

"Hood, reporting for duty!"

"Bismarck, ready to go!"

The girls were standing next to each other and  _not_  trying to kill the other. Time really heals all wounds, don't it? Of course, this could be appearances.

"BURNING- LOOOOO-" The next shipgirl flew over my head as I hastily ducked a flying tackle. She was speaking… English accented Japanese?

Kongo. I read about that whole deal. Her sisters were more sedate at least.

"Prince of Wales, at your service." Another British ship.

That just leaves the last… three.

"Greetings. I am Houshou, here to serve." The carrier bowed deeply. It was a very formal gesture. I recalled what… Kamoi, had said yesterday. She must be the proprietor to run the not-bar. Fair enough. She was the first aircraft carrier, and likely more fragile than later models. I only hope she doesn't eat as much as Akagi.

That just leaves Ya- well.

"I, Yamato, am here to serve, Admiral." Even more formal. Including a parasol.

"As am I, Musashi." Musashi seemed a little more laid back. And revealing. She does that herself, right?

Ignoring the amount of skin, I directed them to their new living locations and training facilities, and left them to it.

I had a date with Jack.

* * *

Several bottles later I found my alcohol tolerance was still depressingly high. Of course, it was also sortie time, so I had to figure out what to do for that.

I settled for a smash and grab operation into Subsector Alpha. They were to head in, find any Abyssal things, and smash. They were also under orders to capture an Abyssal unit  _if possible_ , since Phoenix had asked if I could do that.

I replied with 'You're asking the ODST?' I left it up to them to figure out if I was saying I would or wouldn't.

I do  _so_  love being evil sometimes.

The flagship for this sortie is to be one of the battleships this time, Yamato I suppose. Heavy firepower means more smashy. I did, however, issue orders that they were to fall back if they got critically injured. I didn't want any of them going down out there because of pride or misguided sense of invincibility.

We had that before Harvest. We don't anymore.

The fleet saluted and left, leaving me to wonder if I had made the right choice. The chains of commanding.

The pit in my stomach had me gravitate to the mess hall, where I sat in silence with a mug of hot chocolate in my hands, and another across the table.

"Hey sis." I said quietly. I didn't want any of the girls to come over and ask about this. "How've you been? Wait, you've been dead." I let a wry laugh out.

"Did you hate me, when Reach fell? They pulled me out too early, I think. I would have gladly died defending Reach. Even more if I had known you would also die with me." I drank. "But I didn't. I survived Reach. I survived Earth. I survived the Ark. And now I'm here." I motioned helplessly outwards. "Commanding ship spirits that look like girls." I stared into my mug.

"I just wonder…. am I doing things right?"

I felt a warm feeling on my shoulder, like someone had put their hand on it in sympathy, but no one was there when I turned around. When I turned back, the other mug was clean as a whistle.

I'm either snapping, or my sister's  _ghost_  is following me. And I'm not sure which one is more terrifying.

* * *

I was staring at the ceiling when Ooyodo poked her head into my office and informed me the fleet had returned.

I ran to the staging area, hoping that my gut was just being paranoid.

Thankfully it was. The whole fleet was there, although some of them had suffered some damage. Akatsuki's face was burned- plasma. I grimaced- the Abyssals were reminding me too much of the Covenant for comfort.

Paladin was missing an arm. She would be out of action for a week.

Various minor injuries among the cruisers and battleships.

But the best part was the three resigned Abyssals sitting in a pile, all tied together with laser wire.

One of them sort of looked like a goo tadpole with eyes. Squishy too.

Another looked like a young girl with long hair and red eyes. Destroyer, probably.

The last one had a similar body type to Tenryuu and Tatsuta, which means it's probably a light cruiser.

I informed them that we'd probably be stashing them somewhere for the night, which they seemed to understand, but didn't reply to. I couldn't understand them anyways, since my translator program doesn't have Abyssal coded in it.

I'd complain but I think I'd get court-martialed then.

We let the Abyssals out of the rope, and they didn't immediately leg it (fly it?) or try to attack, which meant they were either passive outside the Sector, or knew they were rather massively outgunned. But the destroyer-type and the tadpole followed Tenryuu around like her usual bunch of ducklings, and the cruiser was… I think asking Akagi about her fashion sense?

I quit attempting to make sense of it, ascertained my sanity was finally going, and went to find a drink.

* * *

So Abyssals eat food.

Watching the tadpole osmosis a sandwich was rather fun with the bottle of bourbon I'd found, and the other two were human enough they had mouths. With disturbing amounts of teeth, granted, but Sangheili had split jaws, and Hunters were literally worm colonies or something. Teeth were near the bottom of my 'Freaky Shit' list. But they had plopped down with their own food trays and eaten with the rest of us.

I know these guys have a 'no-enter' zone in the sector, but apparently they were real passive outside it.

Sigh…. today was a real day.

* * *

**The Rant**

**Let it be known that I'm not evil enough to off a shipgirl yet. I mean it really wouldn't matter** _**much** _ **, and I might have to anyway so I can actually keep track of all the characters, but not** _**yet** _ **.**

**As an aside, what the hell is a screwdriver that unscrews screws with dome-shapes? Dome-head screwdrivers?**

**Publish Not: It's midnight, New Year's Eve, people aren't paying attention to their inboxes.**

**Perfect time for an update! (Shoutouts to the Id of the Cross-Brain, The Patient One, for the quote (not exactly))**


End file.
